ZANESVILLE - Mother-daughter team Kelli Crumbaker and Morgan Langsdorf took a leap of faith a year ago and opened MoJo Gallery and Studio on the fourth floor of the Masonic Temple Building.

Now they will be featured as artists of the month during the First Friday Art Walk from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday with work on display in Room 402 of the Masonic Temple.

"We came to the art walks and we always lingered here. There was so much here and the people were so nice," Crumbaker said. "We made friends here and when they found out that we did art, they told us to get a room."

Langsdorf works in a variety of media and Crumbaker works in acrylics and one of a kind apparel art.

"And now it's been a year and here we are and we are still going and it's getting bigger and more exciting," Langsdorf said.

Langsdord categorizes herself as a maker and said that everything comes in cycles for her.

"One week, I'll be painting and another week I'll be drawing or sculpting. Sometimes, I'll be seen waist deep in the river fishing trash and pottery out to make things with," she said.

Some recent art features those found objects. Langsdorf said she was encouraged by creative parents and supportive teachers to explore and grow her art. Local artist Linda Regula nudged her once when she had thought of giving up her art.

"She gave me quite a talking to. She told me I couldn't give up, that I had to keep making things," Langsdorf said. "She said that if I gave up art I would be giving up myself. 'You need to make things,' she said, 'or you won't be yourself.' Because of that, I go where my inspiration takes me."

Some of her work chronicles Langsdorf's struggles with depression and anxiety,

"Someone told me to paint it out and that's what I did. I've been exploring the beauty of broken things," she said. "I hope that my art communicates with people so that they don't have to feel alone."

For Crumbaker, who works as a seamstress, art has always held a place in her soul.

"I just like to paint. It relaxes me," she said. "I went to a bazaar years ago when I was a stay at home mom and kept thinking I could do this or that. I just started making things and people would give me things to see what I could make from them."

At MoJo Gallery and Studio, so named for Morgan's nickname of Mo and Kelli's middle name of Jo, the two artists share space with other artists. This month the gourd art of Melissa McCoy and digital art prints by Heath Langsdorf, Morgan's husband, are on display.

"We have a little something for everybody here," Crumbaker said, "And we are always changing. I hope that people can come here and know that they are safe."